


At the Mall

by Fuzzle



Series: The LGBT Bandori Universe [2]
Category: BanG Dream! Girl's Band Party! (Video Game)
Genre: Autistic! Sayo, F/F, Fluff and Angst, It’s high-functioning autism, Post “Cooking Class Craziness”, Pre-Relationship, Sensory Overload, So make sure to read that story if you havent, i researched a lot so I can represent it while also avoiding ooc, if i did anything wrong plz tell and I’ll fix or remove the fic to make a more accurate one
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-23
Updated: 2019-05-23
Packaged: 2020-03-09 18:19:22
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,231
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18922495
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Fuzzle/pseuds/Fuzzle
Summary: Sayo and Tsugumi go to the Knick-knack shop after they promised to do so after Tsugumi’s cooking class. But they are met with a not so great surprise.





	At the Mall

**Author's Note:**

> I’ve obviously based this off of the cards from the story, and built it around the special story.
> 
> (edit: fixed a few mistakes)

Sayo walked up in front of the Hazawa Cafe, dressed in a simple light blue long sleeve shirt and matching simple blue jeans. It was a few weeks later since the end of the cooking class, and Sayo was exactly on time at their meet-up destination, which was in front of Tsugumi’s Cafe. As she was standing there, Sayo glanced inside to see if Tsugumi was ready, for this wasn’t the first time they decided to do something together, and a small peek wouldn’t hurt.

Tsugumi seemed to had just put up her apron and grab what looked like a wallet, and walked towards the door. As she came into view, Sayo could see that she was wearing a yellow skirt with a blue sweater over what seemed like a white button-up.

She looked... cute.

 

“S-Sayo-san? Is something wrong? You’re staring...”

 

Sayo flinched and looked away, blushing slightly, though she didn’t know why.

“It’s nothing of your concern, Hazawa-san. Are you ready to go to that Knick-knack store you spoke of at your cooking class?”

Tsugumi smiled sweetly and nodded, “Y-yes I am!”

Sayo nodded back in response.

Tsugumi continued to smile and gestured her hand to follow her. They continued to walk down the street past other cafes, restaurants, and various stores. There was a comfortable silence between them as they walked side by side. Tsugumi was quietly humming a song and swung her arms back and forth as they walked together.

From looking down at Tsugumi’s outfit, Sayo then shifted her eyes down at her hands, holding them out with palms facing up. They weren’t bleeding for once. Thanks to Tsugumi, she kept moderation in mind and stopped practicing when they started to hurt. When she practiced, she admittedly had a hard time concentrating, but once she did, she would hyper-focus on practicing and practicing alone. The reason being if she didn’t practice, Hina would surpass her, of course, but Sayo was still putting her best effort not to compare herself to her sister.

 

A good amount of time had passed and Sayo saw they still hadn’t stopped at a store. Upon noticing this, Sayo had to make sure Tsugumi knew where she was going.

”Hazawa-san, are you sure you know where you’re going? Not to be disrespectful, but we haven’t stopped yet and I confess I don’t know where our final destination is located”

Tsugumi turned to her with an expression that Sayo couldn’t recognize. Her brows were furrowing slightly, but she had a smile?

_Oh no... I don’t know what this means..._

 

”I apologize, Hazawa-san, but I don’t know what you’re expressing... I must admit that I have a hard time in social situations”

Tsugumi stopped in front of her and gently put her hand on Sayo’s left arm to stop her from walking any further, looking into the taller girl’s eyes.

”No, you’re perfectly fine Sayo-san! I was j-just kind of surprised you didn’t notice where we’re going I guess, b-but don’t worry, you don’t have to apologize! I-I should have told you anyways”

Although processing what Tsugumi had said, all Sayo could focus on at that moment is how she didn’t like to be touched, but Tsugumi’s soft touch didn’t bother her this time for some reason. Regardless, she really appreciated the space that Tsugumi gave her.

Sayo gets overwhelmed quite easily, from noise, from lights, and from touch. And it’s all because her brain is a bit different than others. She didn’t want other people to know about this... certain quality about her. She decided to hide it at a young age, and had gotten better at hiding it since then. But it resulted in a cold intimidating personality. But Sayo didn’t care because it meant less interaction.

She was really good at seeming like everyone else (though Hina was still better than her at that), so no one had any suspicion about her and Hina, with a few exceptions. The exception being Roselia, since they forced the secret out of her, but for a good reason—

Their second live had to be cut off early because of her. Sayo wore ear plugs because since they grew in popularity, she anticipated a boisterous audience. And she was right— but she forgot that people used glowsticks, and she got overwhelmed by lights rather than noise. She managed to ignore the audience the first two songs, but the third song she just couldn’t take it anymore.

The bright colored lights waving everywhere, the loud screams that managed to get past her ear plugs, and the massive amount of people moving in front of her— the second the song ended she had to run off stage to just get away from everything, causing concern and confusion for everyone else. The rest of Roselia ended up concluding the concert early and gone to find her in the changing room, her guitar carefully placed on a chair and Sayo huddled on the floor silently crying.

She told them about her secret after Lisa convinced her to stop keeping it from them. And from then on, her spot light was a bit brighter to block the view of the audience, Roselia made it a requirement for people to have their glowsticks at the lowest possible setting, and Sayo was given noise canceling headphones that looked like the flower headband they all wore on stage. This never rose any suspicion from their fans surprisingly, it increased their said “cool” aura, so in a way, Sayo didn’t effect anything...

 

Tsugumi was rubbing her thumb on Sayo's arm to get her attention. She didn’t know how long she was spacing out, but she snapped out of it and disregarded her moment of aloofness and responded as if nothing happened.

”No, Hazawa-san, I truly apologize. We are both at fault in this situation. I forgot to ask you where we were to go. Now, where is this Knick-knack shop you speak of again?”

”O-okay, um, it’s in the mall a few minutes away from here, and I don’t think it’s a busy day, so I don’t think there’s many people that will slow us down!”

Tsugumi smiled and removed her arm away from Sayo. She proceeded to turn around and walk towards the mall again.

Now at least Sayo had an idea of where they’re going and could prepare. She luckily brought her ear plugs in her jean pocket, and she sneakily took them out and popped them in her ears. Her hair covered her ears, so Tsugumi wouldn’t notice and question her. The coast was clear for now, but Sayo knew she could probably trust Tsugumi. She’s already done so much for her.

 

They finally get to the mall and walked into the complex; Tsugumi was right, there weren’t many people around, so they got to the Knick-knack store quickly with no one to block their pathway.

“Sayo-san, we're here! This is the knick-knack shop I was talking about! It's known for having really cute designs!”

“Oh, I see...” Sayo wasn’t expecting the store to be cutesy, or Tsugumi to get so excited.

“Is something wrong?”

“No... This is kind of embarrassing to say, but... I don't really have much experience inside these kinds of cute stores...

I can't help but always choose stores that sell more practical items...”

Sayo blushed from embarrassment. She looked away to try to hide her face.

“So, it's just... I apologize for my inexperience...”

Tsugumi made a surprised face, “N-No no! Don't apologize! It's okay!”

Even after saying that, Sayo could still see that she was thinking of something, she didn’t know if it was good or bad because eventually Tsugumi looked somewhat determined. As they both stepped into the store Sayo decided to change the subject in case she had said or done anything abnormal.

“Oh yeah...”

“Yes? What is it?”

“The other day, I used the recipe you taught me to make cookies for my band.”

“Really?! H-How did it go...?” Tsugumi looked curious as her face blushed slightly.

Sayo put her hand on her chin in contemplation, “I feel like it lightened the mood and had a good overall effect on rehearsal.”

Tsugumi clapped her hands together and brightly smiled.

“That means... the cookies made everyone happy, right?!”

Sayo nodded and brought her hand back down to her side, “Right... They said they were good, so I think the cookies did make them happy.”

Tsugumi clapped her hands again and did a little jump of joy.

“Wah~! That's awesome!”

Sayo responded with a small smile, and continued her thoughts.

“However, I was somewhat bothered by their surprised reactions when I showed them the cookies.”

She crossed her arms and frowned in thought.

“Certainly, I knew I wasn't the type to do something like that, but I didn't think they would be as shocked as they were...”

“Well...” It seemed like Tsugumi didn’t know what to say.

But Sayo didn’t pay it any mind, not fully understanding what Tsugumi was expressing.

“Sorry. That's probably enough talking. Why don't we start browsing?”

“Okay. Yeah!” Tsugumi rushed to a wall with giant colored rolls attached to them, “Sayo-san, look. They have so many different kinds of wrapping here!”

“Yeah. I've never seen a lot of this stuff before.”

Sayo walked over to another set of shelves that displayed many types of ribbon and string.

“And like you said during the cooking class, they have a lot of different types of ribbons.”

Tsugumi hummed and commented, “This store's one of my favorites! They have some adorable treat bags over here!”

Tsugumi walked over to a table and stood there looking at every single design. Sayo thought it was kind of funny, but endearing.

“These many items sure do make you unsure of yourself... Which one am I supposed to pick...?” Sayo softly laughed and turned to Tsugumi, who had just picked up two bags, one with a floral design and the other with strawberries.

“Ah, in that case... How about these? The flower and strawberry designs are really cute!”

“Haha... Hazawa-san, it's like you work here.”

Tsugumi blushed and looked away, “Ah, uhm... Sorry.”

“No, don't worry about it. You're being considerate because I'm not familiar with stores like this one, right? Thank you.”

She gave a small grin to Tsugumi.

“Because of you, I'm getting used to the atmosphere they have here.”

“R-Really? That's great!”

Now in a perkier mood, Tsugumi continued the conversation.

“So, Sayo-san, do you like the flower design or the strawberry design better”

Sayo thought for a moment before she decided what to say. “I do think they're cute, but maybe I should go with a different design.”

There was a short pause, and a thought came to mind.

“If I put the cookies into a bag like this, I think the discrepancy between the cuteness and my image would cause too much shock.”

Sayo looked away, red from embarrassment of her personality contradicting her actions.

Tsugumi looked at Sayo with endearment when she had her back to her. Sayo was really kind behind her cold exterior, and really did care for others despite what she says.

The guitarist spoke again with curiosity and in attempt to keep the conversation going, “By the way, what are you planning to buy, Hazawa-san?”

“I was thinking this one with the musical note design might be good...”

 Tsugumi showed her a bag with measures and music notes evenly placed on them. Sayo liked it too.

“The design is quite tranquil. It's lovely. Do you mind if I buy the same thing?”

“Of course not! Ah, they're also selling cookie cutters over there! Let's go take a look!”

Sayo laughed. She didn’t know what, but she knew at that moment she was happy.

“Haha... Yeah, let's do that.”

 

———

 

”I think this red string would look good with this bag, right?”

”Um, yes it probably would.”

Tsugumi places the two items in the brown hand basket that she got from the front of the shop.

”You know, we are just shopping for me... I’d love to go shopping with you, a-and for you! And maybe we can do something else other than shopping?”

Tsugumi’s face had a smile and looked red. She looked at Sayo expecting something. But Sayo didn’t understand if she was supposed to get something.

_I’m missing something aren’t I...?_

“That sounds fine to me.”

Sayo faced Tsugumi, who had another look she couldn’t comprehend. The silence between them made Sayo worry.

_I said something weird didn’t I...? Did I?_

Eventually Tsugumi spoke up again while she started to walk over to the cashier.

”Haha... I-it’s fine, we don’t have to if you don’t want to...”

_What? But you just said we could..._

Tsugumi was ringing up her items and Sayo tried to think about what she missed. All she could come up with is that she sounded sad at the end. But when Tsugumi turned around with a smile Sayo was just confused even more.

”Come on, let’s go back to the cafe!”

”Alright, thank you for inviting me to accompany you today”

”O-of course, any time!”

They walked to the door to exit, but there was a giant mob on the other side. They stood there in surprise.

”Wah~ I’m sorry Sayo-san, I forgot that there was actually an event today! I guess we’re going to have a hard time leaving getting through all those people...”

Sayo couldn’t move or say anything, the sight of the crowd had already effected her. Tsugumi failed to notice her panicked state and grabbed Sayos sleeve. Unable so say anything, Sayo was pulled out of the door and people were rubbing and bumping into her. Her breathing quickened and Sayo suddenly couldn’t process anything, the tipping point was when someone knocked into her particularly hard and knocked one of her ear plugs out. The drone of loud people talking around her was too much. All the words jumbled together. The body heat coming from all directions was too much. The faint lights from stores and phones were too much. And people were way too close to her. The last thing she consciously processed were the tears in her eyes and the sight of Tsugumi looking right at her.

After that, Sayo could tell she was making a scene. And she didn’t want to, because the thought of it just made everything worse. She didn’t want anyone to see her like this. She felt weak and pathetic.

Sayo could feel herself being pulled and the noise slowly went away. Now she could only hear Tsugumi’s voice. It was somewhat comforting.

Her senses slowly came back to her and she could hear Tsugumi more clearly.

”H-hey... Sayo it’s okay, I’m right here... I got you out of there as quick as possible... Just breathe... I-I don’t know what to do, so I hope I’m not making it worse”

Sayo picked up her dizzy head and looked into Tsugumi’s eyes. She still couldn’t respond and just stared, finding comfort in her soft presence.

On the other hand, Tsugumi could see Sayo shaking and trembling, her hair was in her face, stuck to her tears. It seemed like something similar to an anxiety attack, and Tsugumi knew how to deal with those, so she treated it as such in order for Sayo to feel safe.

 

”Sayo, may I touch you?”

Sayo nodded.

”May I hug you?”

Sayo shook her head.

”May I hold your hands at least?”

Sayo nodded.

”Is it okay if I touch your hair? I’d like to move it out of the way”

Sayo nodded.

Tsugumi then proceeded to take her hand with up most care, and slowly pushed Sayo's hair out of her face. Even though she may be at her lowest at the moment, Tsugumi still thought she was beautiful.

 

Some time passed, for who knows how long, and Sayo stopped shaking.

Tsugumi whispered tentatively, “Hey... Sayo-san, are you okay now? D-do you mind explaining what happened?”

”...”

”Y-you don’t have to tell me anything if you don’t want to!”

”N-no it’s alright... just please don’t tell anyone else...”

This was the first time Tsugumi had ever heard Sayo stutter and sound so defeated, so she wanted to make sure Sayo could trust her.

”I promise.”

Sayo was still holding Tsugumi’s hand. She noticed and pulled it away. Tsugumi respected her space despite wanting to hold on for longer.

Sayo took a deep breath, getting ready to explain to Tsugumi.

”M-my brain is just different... so... s-so sometimes everything becomes too much... I usually avoid things like this, but this time I thought that as long as I had you I’d be fine...”

Sayo paused and Tsugumi’s face, yet again, made an expression she couldn’t quite understand. But she saw that she was visibly blushing though.

”...and this too... I’m sorry if I say anything inappropriate, or not answer questions how they are supposed to be answered... 

I’ve said I’m bad at social situations, but rather, it is social cues or any similar social input for that matter... I don’t always know what people are expressing or implying... I usually guess in order to hide the fact that...”

Sayo cuts off and looks to the side in shame.

“... and I don’t want anyone to know...”

Sayo paused again just in case. Tsugumi just nodded, and Sayo assumed that she was able to continue.

”I don’t know why I’m revealing this... but for some reason I just know I can trust you... and I know we’ve only really been acquainted for a few weeks but I continuously have this feeling that only occurs when you’re present, and I don’t know what it is...

But I believe that means I can trust you and trust you not to tell anyone, and regard me just as the same as before...”

Tsugumi was tearing up, and Sayo thought she said something that made her do that, but before she could try to fix it, Tsugumi answered.

“Sayo-san... I... I promise I won’t change anything between us...and... a-and I think have a special feeling with you too! These past weeks I’ve gotten to know you really well, especially now...”

Tsugumi was smiling again, so Sayo assumed that she was fine for now. 

“Just know that I’m here for you, alright?”

”I’m glad I can trust you, Hazawa-san”

Still effected by her emotions, Sayo uncharacteristically went in for a hug, and hugged Tsugumi for a long time. She made Sayo feel safe...

 

“So are you ready to head back? Your eyes aren’t puffy anymore, so it won’t be obvious to other people, and I have tissues so you can wipe your face”

Sayo wore her own small smile.

”Thank you for your consideration...”

Sayo took some tissues from Tsugumi, who apparently had pockets in her skirt where she kept said tissues. Then, after cleaning up, they both walked side by side, on the way back to Tsugumi’s family cafe. And now being able to securely trust Tsugumi much more than before, Sayo grabbed Tsugumi’s hand and held it faintly. 

Tsugumi made an expression Sayo couldn’t quite understand again.

But she could tell she was blushing— but over what? She didn’t know. But Sayo was willing to at least try to understand, even if she’ll never truly understand. Tsugumi has done so much for Sayo, how could she even begin to repay her?

**Author's Note:**

> In this AU, all of the Bandori girls are part of the LGBT community somehow, and some may have mental disorders or disorders that they’re born with
> 
> I’m trying to be as representative as possible, and as accurately as possible(experiences like this fic are things I’ve gone through but I obviously haven’t experienced all of them), so if there is any inaccuracies please say so so I can fix it ( ´ ▽ ` )ﾉ


End file.
